Call Me Bunny - Steam Powered Giraffe
by Aoikami Sarah
Summary: Hatchworth and The Spine wonder if you get to eat all the ice cream you want in robot heaven while they worry that they might have lost Rabbit, forever. Meanwhile, Walter Girl Paige is given an interesting assignment which forces her to make what she hopes is the right decision. Drama, no pairings, three chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Call Me Bunny**

Steam Powered Giraffe Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter One

It was a Saturday when it happened. The robot lads had just played a show the night before at the town pavilion. At that show, The Spine injured his back, popping a gear during "Fire, Fire" that was difficult to replace and was still being repaired on Saturday morning.

As he was being prepared for examination, Rabbit made fun of how often The Spine was in for maintenance. The Spine informed Rabbit that this was not because he was malfunctioning (unlike a certain bald-pated robot he could mention) but that he was careful with his physique and made sure he would last another hundred years. He then suggested that Rabbit and Hatchworth join him for his overnight stay in the lab. Hatchworth declined having just had a tune up last week. Rabbit changed the subject by saying he had to count the bats in the belfry and ran from the room laughing like a maniac. Hatchworth shrugged and went off on his own. The Spine shook his head as the Walter Girls circled in to tend to his wounded back.

The Walter Girl called Brianna escorted Hatchworth and Rabbit on that fateful Saturday on a trip to the ice cream shop. The sun shown down occasionally through scattered clouds and the California air was warm and sweet. It was not at all the sort of day one would expect someone to attempt suicide, so one can understand the surprise the three received as they were walking along the street when a woman fell on Rabbit from a height of twenty stories, having leapt from the top of the First National Bank building.

The two left standing jumped, startled, and Brianna gave a small shout of surprise. Hatchworth said "oh dear." Rabbit said nothing. A moment later a crowd began to form and the Walter Girl sprang into action, checking first to see if the suicide had been successful. It appeared not, despite her injuries seeming to be rather severe, her having landed on a metal man. However, a look of horror crossed Brianna's face when she noticed the bright blue glowing substance that covered both the suicide-woman and her automaton ward. "Everyone get back!" she cried, but most did not heed her. "Hatchworth, form a perimeter, don't let anyone come closer!"

"Will do," he answered calmly and scuttled around them in a circle, deftly blocking and gently pressing the crowd back while muttering apologies and softly-spoken thinly-veiled threats. Both the woman and Rabbit were motionless. Rabbit lay crumpled on the sidewalk, one leg bent the wrong way behind him and his left arm twisted and splayed out awkwardly. His eyes flickered, then they, and the blue glow, dimmed in the sunlight. Brianna quietly issued instructions into a small cell phone to someone back at Walter Manor and in moments a large vintage hearse pulled to a screeching halt curbside.

"Is this their idea of a joke?" Brianna asked as she and Hatchworth picked the woman up and quickly carried her into the gaping back of the hearse.

"It's not a very good one," Hatchworth agreed and turned to scoop Rabbit up in his arms. "Is he going to be ok?" he asked, his mustache twitching nervously.

Brianna made a worried face as she got out of his way then hopped up in the hearse alongside the bodies. "I hope so," she said as Hatchworth climbed in and pulled the doors closed behind him. The hearse sped away back to Walter Manor.

.x.

A short while earlier The Spine stood in the hall at the front of the manor and pouted. Norman Becile had just informed him that Rabbit and Hatchworth had popped out for ice cream. Norman offered that The Spine could try to catch up with them, but he grumbled that they'd probably be done before he got there so he'd just wait for them to come home. He wandered off a ways and stood in the hall; his newly repaired spine straight; he did not move. He thought of all the snarky things he could say to scold them—especially Rabbit—for going for ice cream without him—_especially_ since he was the one in the infirmary who best deserved a nice ice cream treat. He brightened for a moment with the thought that maybe they would bring some back for him, then slumped and hissed. No. They would not likely be so thoughtful.

"Oh, The Spine! Y-you wanted ice creeeeeam?" he straightened back up and imitated his automaton friend. "No, no, Rabbit. Why, that's just silly. I don't like ice cream at all!" He replied to his own imitation. "You don't? Why, everyone loves ice creeeeeam!" "Well, Rabbit. Maybe... just maybe, now. Maybe if you had hung around with me in the infirmary all night and gotten the maintenance you've been shirking for... years now, come to think of it... All three of us could have gone together? Ever think about that?"

He could have continued this conversation with himself for some time if he weren't interrupted by a commotion echoing through the manor halls. Distracted from his sulking, The Spine shrugged and headed toward the sounds. His advanced hearing noted shouts and the rattling of metal coming from the lower-level repair wing on the far side of the building.

A few minutes later as he grew closer, he saw Hatchworth and a Walter Girl called Brianna headed toward him. "Well, hey guys," he chimed, casually. "What's going on?"

Brianna extended her hands slightly in a herding gesture. "You two go have fun somewhere else. It's not safe to be here right now. Don't worry, we'll do our best to save him."

"Save him?" The Spine asked, alarmed.

"Oh, The Spine, it's not so good," Hatchworth worried. He took his friend by the arm and led him into a nearby parlor. The Spine watched Brianna turn and head back down the hall. Her usually happy, kind face fell as she turned and hurried into the darkness of the repairs wing.

"Rabbit...?" he asked.

.x.

Not quite twenty-four hours later the sun rose on a new day, but deep in the underground of Walter Manor time seemed to stand still. No natural light penetrated. Lab room AA was currently occupied by the three members of the automaton band Steam Powered Giraffe, two of whom were operational. The third was strapped to a vertical examination nook against the western wall to the left of a set of huge, metal double doors. Wires ran from a bank of diagnostic devices of various types on the northern wall (some that pulsed, blinked and wheezed and others that were still) across the floor and to Rabbit. His eyes were half open and grey. His mouth gaped slightly. His clothes had been removed and he stood stiffly like a mannequin against the wall of the nook. To the right of his, four other such nooks stood empty.

The Spine had spent the previous night turned around facing the wall in the exam nook next to Rabbit's while his back was repaired and other necessary maintenance was performed. He stared blankly at this wall now, standing about ten feet away in the middle of the room. Hatchworth fidgeted sitting against the wall by the door, facing Rabbit and The Spine. Neither had spoken since Hatchworth told him what had happened. An oversized clock on the wall chimed eight and the ringing sound echoed through the lab. Hatchworth stood and twisted his mustache. "No change," he noted, approaching Rabbit's inert frame. His sneakers squeaked softly across the polished cement floor. "No change at all."

The Spine folded his arms. "Say, Hatchworth," he began. "Did you know that humans have this ridiculous idea that when they die, they get to go somewhere pleasant where there's no pain and they get to see their loved ones again and eat all the ice cream they want?"

Hatchworth turned his head toward his friend and gave him a quizzical look. "Oh? You don't say? Isn't that what they call 'heaven'?"

The Spine nodded. "It is indeed. When we fought in the wars, we saw a lot of humans die. They're so fragile. It really doesn't take much and they break, just like that." His voice became soft. "But they think that no matter how much pain they're going through, when it's done, they get to go to paradise."

"Oh, that's nice," said Hatchworth, matching The Spine's soft tone. "Spine? Do you think there's a place like that for robots?"

"Well," he answered, tilting his head and taking his eyes off Rabbit for the first time in many hours. "Humans have souls—that's sort of like their version of Blue Matter. When we use up our Blue Matter, I'm not sure that it goes to a land where it gets to eat ice cream all day."

Hatchworth nodded.

"But right now, it's a nice thing to think about."

"We don't know that he's..." Hatchworth began, but didn't finish the thought. No one had yet said that there was no hope; that their friend was gone, but his grey, hollow eyes did not encourage them.

"No," The Spine agreed. "We don't." Both bots turned their heads toward the lab doors and the sound of raised voices coming from the other side. "Something's going on again," he said, frowning and with a glance toward Rabbit as if to say 'we'll be right back' both quickly left the room to investigate.

.x.

Two hundred feet and five doors down in one of the human 'repair shops' several female voices could be heard shouting, urgently. The bots peeked in through the open door of what looked like a gothic hospital room complete with metal frame bed and mid-century TV set hanging from the ceiling. It was grey and dimly lit and the TV displayed snow static; the volume was turned up just enough to be audible. An EKG whined, displaying a flat-line, having been disconnected, adding to the crazy din of two Walter Girls trying to calm a flailing young brunette woman in a hospital gown. She was on the floor, tangled in sheets and the plastic tubing of a saline drip which lay leaking on the floor beside her. Hatchworth recognized her as the suicide-woman from the day before and quietly said as much to The Spine. They looked on as the Walter Girls lifted the woman. Her face was contorted with terror and she thrashed her limbs and hissed and seethed as if she could not form words she desperately wanted to convey. They managed to lift her back up onto the hospital bed, but not until she spied the robots in the doorway did she stop struggling. The woman had Paige's right hand in a white-knuckled grip and the Walter Girl tried to soothe her. "We're here to help you," she insisted, "it's ok!" She noticed the woman's eyes were fixed over her shoulder and sighed. "Don't worry, they're our friends. They won't hurt you, see?"

The woman stared hard at the robots with her jaw set in a deep pout. To Paige's surprise, she wriggled her free hand out and reached toward them. Paige motioned for them to come in and turned to Brianna, nodding as the other girl prepared a syringe of morphine. "See?" Paige repeated.

Hatchworth and The Spine tipped their hats and said "ma'am" in greeting. To Paige's surprise, Hatchworth extended his hand and shook the woman's. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "My name is Hatchworth and this is The Spine." He indicated to his friend who stood behind him. The suicide-woman clutched his hand tightly. She trembled all over and looked from the bot's face down to his hand and tears rolled down her cheeks. She winced as Brianna administered the morphine to the hand that still held Paige's. Relaxing as the drug took effect she released both hands and eased down onto the hospital bed; her rasping breaths becoming slower and calmer by the moment.

"Rest now," Paid said, shaking feeling back into her fingers. "We have to observe you... er... that is..." She pursed her lips and rephrased the thought. "Yesterday, you fell on one of our robots and there was an... incident. We have to make sure you'll be alright. We'll take good care of you."

The woman's brown eyes fluttered as the drug did its work. She whimpered softly, but still no words came. The Spine clenched his fists, turned on his heels and marched back to lab AA and Hatchworth hurried after him, excusing the both of them.

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**Call Me Bunny**

Steam Powered Giraffe Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Two

Hours later, Paige nodded off in a metal chair at the foot of the woman's bed. A copy of Wired magazine lay loosely in her folded hands and she was asleep when the woman woke again.

The brunette woke slowly in a morphine haze which allowed her to calmly adjust to her surroundings and reflect on what she had seen the day before. A round fluorescent light hummed overhead. The distant sound of air-conditioning units rumbled, but the air in the room hardly moved. There were no windows and no decorations on the grey painted walls.

She did not flail. The saline drip had been reinserted and she raised and examined her taped left hand. Her eyes followed the line to the bag and back down to the tape. Cautiously, she touched the tape with her right hand, then her fingers, feeling the knuckles and nails. Lowering the left, she made a fist with the right then stretched the fingers out and stared at it. Swallowing hard, she brought the hand to her face.

The woman gasped in surprise and made a quiet giggling sort of sound as she felt her lips and hair and continued exploring further down her neck and chest. Suddenly she stopped, sat up quickly and awkwardly and with both hands felt her ample chest through the thin hospital gown.

Paige woke when she heard the woman laugh. She blinked and focused on the woman who was sitting up with her hands in her lap, staring at the Walter Girl. Paige regarded her apprehensively, waiting for the next round of freak-out. When it didn't come, she smiled and waved hello. The brunette waved back.

"Good morning," Paige said softly. "How are you feeling?"

The woman cocked her head to the side and shrugged, stiffly.

Paige got up, sat down on the edge of the hospital bed and looked on the woman kindly. "My name is Paige. I'm one of Mr. Walter's assistants. Are you unable to speak?" she asked.

The brunette opened her mouth and shook her head. She croaked and squeaked, she hissed and hummed. Paige giggled at the faces the woman made as she tried to form proper words until she straightened up, made a serious face and cleared her throat a couple of times. "My... name is..." she began, but pouted briefly before rephrasing. "Call me Bunny."

Paige raised a brow. "Bunny. Ok… Hello, Bunny. It's nice to meet you." She reached over and picked up a clipboard and pen resting on a nearby table. "I'd like to ask you some questions, is that ok?"

Bunny nodded. She rubbed her hands nervously and her eyes darted around the room.

"How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

She screwed her lips up in contemplation and after a moment shook her head. "No. I... feel... alright, I suppose."

"Good. You had quite the fall. Do you remember it?"

"A fall..." she repeated dreamily. "No. I don't remember."

"That's ok." Paige said and scribbled on the chart. Looking down at what she had written, she said "you landed on one of our robots and I think that's what saved you, but I'm not sure yet what happened, so we need to observe you for a while," she lifted her head and saw Bunny staring at her with her jaw clenched tightly shut. "I hope you'll bear with us. We'll take care of you."

"Ok," she replied nervously.

Paige put the pen down and smiled again. She explained that she was going to examine her and made sure to describe everything she was doing and why she was doing it. As she took her blood pressure and listened to her heart, Paige was stone-faced and scribbled notes on Bunny's chart: 190/102, tachycardia-113. Finally, she put down the pen and smiled again. "I think you need to relax a little, Bunny—get out of this stuffy room. What would you like to do?"

Bunny brightened. "Oh, wow. I don't know, Paige. Anything!"

"Anything?"

"I'd like run and dance and sing and play and..."

Paige laughed. "Well, let's start slow, shall we?"

Bunny blushed. "Ok." Her stomach growled and she blushed deeper.

"Well, that settles that," Paige said, replaced the chart at the foot of the bed and stood up. "First order of business is breakfast!"

Bunny cheered in agreement and the two women set about finding Bunny something to wear. A pair of striped tights and a grey dress that was a little too big for the woman's slight frame were located and Paige lent her a pair of her shoes. Once she was dressed, Bunny twirled in a circle and laughed in delight. "Do I look pretty?" she asked, running her hands through her wavy brown locks.

Paige had to agree. Bunny radiated joy in addition to her good looks and slender body. The Walter Girl took her by the hand and led her out of the infirmary, pressing her finger to her lips. Bunny covered her mouth and nodded, tiptoeing after her. They went left out of the door, taking the long route down the hall to the stairs to avoid passing lab AA. On the next lower-level floor they took the elevator up to the main floor and stepped out the front door into the sunshine.

.x.

Bunny had breakfast at a local coffee shop. She ate half a bacon and egg sandwich with cheese, a pain au chocolat and washed it down with a mocha latte with about six sugars, which she claimed was 'the best food, ever'. Then they were off! Bunny ran and skipped and jumped and fell down and scraped her knee and laughed and ran some more. People stared. Paige smiled. They went to the park and played on the swings together. Later, Paige sat on a stool in the shape of an oversized mushroom and watched Bunny like a doting parent as she used the slide and the jungle gyms with the energy of a rambunctious seven-year-old. Bunny hung upside down unashamedly from her knees at the top of a dome-shaped structure. She had thought to tuck her dress between her thighs before flipping, but a grown woman playing in such a way was still quite the sight. She dropped down and skipped over to her minder, panting fairly heavily. "That was so much fun!" she shouted.

"I'm glad," Paige said, taking her hands in hers, putting her fingers to her pulse. Bunny swung them in and out like a child.

"What next?" the brunette asked, catching her breath.

Paige pursed her lips then said "maybe we should do something a little less strenuous."

"Yeah," Bunny agreed, beaming. "It's a little hard to breathe right now. I think I overdid it!"

"Say," her friend said, bringing her hands up and pulling her close. "How about... some... ice cream!"

Bunny's eyes seemed to glitter. "Oh! I loves ice cream! Come on!" She pulled Paige in the direction of the ice cream shop.

"I know you do," Paige said quietly.

.x.

The chords that formed the beginning of 'Honey Bee' bounced around the huge lab walls as The Spine played his guitar. He leaned against the wall to the left of Rabbit's body. The Spine did not sing as he played and Hatchworth entered the lab. "They've left the building," Hatchworth said as if he had been asked a question.

"Who?"

"Walter Girl Paige and the woman with the brown hair."

"Did she _die_?"

"No, she _walked_."

"Walked out the door on her own? With Paige?"

"Yes. I think I heard them say something about breakfast."

The Spine stopped playing. "Well that's just..." He lifted the guitar off his neck, set it down gently on a stainless steel table nearby and put his hands on his hips. "That's just not right. She ought to be in jail!"

"She ought to be _dead_," Hatchworth interjected.

"Or that!" The Spine added.

"No, no. I mean she shouldn't have survived that fall. She threw herself off the building, Spine. I saw it. Nnnnrwww... splat. Crunch. Eughhh," he said, using his hands to illustrate. "But when we arrived here she wasn't bleeding anymore and now she's out for breakfast like nothing happened at all. Quite strange."

The Spine stepped up to Rabbit's body and peered at him closely. "Very strange," he agreed. "It's almost as if..."

Hatchworth leaned in toward him.

"Nah... crazy. No way. It would have..." he narrowed his eyes. "No, there's no way that's possible. Mr. Walter would have..."

"What?" Hatchworth asked, mustache twitching.

"Nope. It's too stupid to say out loud."  
"You don't think his power core...?"

"I said it was too stupid to say out loud, Hatch!" The Spine shouted.

Hatchworth winced and apologized.

"This is terrible, Hatchworth. Terrible." He loped back to the table and his guitar. He touched its shining black finish with the tips of his gloved hand. "First Upgrade, then The Jon, now Rabbit. What are we going to do? What will become of Steam Powered Giraffe?" he wondered aloud. "It's kind of hard to do three-part harmony with only two robots."

"Sure is," Hatchworth agreed. "Sure is, The Spine."

.x.

Bunny pressed her face to the long, cooler window at gawked at the dozens of tubs of colorful ice cream. "Oh! There's so many to choose from!" she cried.

The teen-aged boy behind the counter smiled awkwardly. "You wanna try some different flavors?" he offered in a squeaky voice.

Bunny looked to Paige. "What's your favorite, P-p-paige?"

"Oh, I like blueberry and mint-chocolate chip and in the wintertime I like peppermint stick."

"I'll try those!" she crowed. "And that one, and that one, and, oh, bubblegum flavor? Does it have gum in it?" she asked, making a weird face. "How does that even work, how do you make sure you don't swallow it?"

Paige laughed and they spent about an hour trying every flavor in the shop. Bunny was delighted with the cold feeling and the creamy taste. "I never knew..." she said, finishing a sample of raspberry-chocolate-fudge flavor. "That it was so, so great."

"Ice cream is pretty great," Paige agreed, feeling sleepy from so much sugar and activity. They sat at a tiny wrought-iron table-for-two in spindly black wrought-iron café chairs.

"The _whole __thing_ is really great. Thank you for taking me out, Paige. I can't imagine why anyone would want to end their life. It's so great... all of it."

"I don't know either, Bunny."

The brunette gently pulled apart the folds of the last of the tiny paper cups that her ice cream sample had come in. She had licked it clean of the butter pecan and was now flattening it out into a disc shape. "Did I really do that? Did I really try to kill myself?" Bunny asked, staring at the cup as she worked.

"Yes," Paige replied. "They saw you jump—Brianna and Hatchworth did."

Bunny bit her lip and looked out of the large shop windows at the people walking by. The late afternoon sun shined down and bounced off a huge mirror on the opposite wall casting strange angles of light and shadow around them.

"I'm sorry," Paige apologized. "This was supposed to be a fun day for you, I didn't mean to…"

"Oh it was!" Bunny chimed, reached over and put her hand on top of Paige's to reassure her. "I guess it's just hard to think about." A bit sheepishly she retracted her hand and folded her arms under her chest. "There's so much I gotta think about. I don't know what I'm gonna do." Her eyes seemed to un-focus and she went back to watching the people passing by outside window silhouetted by the setting sun. Her brows came together and she leaned forward. "Ow," the brunette said and winced. She hugged herself. "It hurts."

Paige's smile fell. She leapt out of her chair and crouched in front of her. "Your chest hurts? How does it feel?" Paige asked quickly, rummaging in her purse.

"Tight. It hurts. Maybe I had too much ice cream?" Bunny said, laughing nervously. Paige pulled an aspirin and the small cell phone from her bag. She instructed Bunny to crunch it and eat the aspirin while she called for transportation then helped her to her feet.

"Paige," Bunny said, shaking like a leaf. "I'm scared. I'm so scared. It hurts..." she hiccupped as she started to cry.

"Oh, Bunny," Paige said, pulling her into her arms and holding her close. "It's ok. It's going to be ok."

"You're lying, but that's alright," Bunny said softly over the woman's shoulder, still smiling. "I had fun."

They staggered out of the ice cream shop onto the street just as the same early-model vehicle from the other day jerked to a halt at the curb and Brianna sprang out to help them. "What on Earth were you thinking?" she shouted as she helped lift Bunny up into the back of the hearse.

"I just wanted to make her happy," Paige said under her breath.

"Well, Mr. Walter isn't going to be very happy when he finds out you..."

Paige shot Brianna a dark look. "He's _not_ going to find out. Now, quiet. You're scaring her even more." She pulled the doors closed and sat down next to Bunny, holding her hand and stroking her hair. "We'll be home soon, Bunny. Don't worry."

Bunny gasped for breath. "Why is... Mr. Walter gonna be...?"

"If he knew what I know," she began and smiled sadly at her friend, "let's just say that unpleasant things would have happened."

"Unpleasant things?" Brianna wondered. "Paige, what are you on about?"

"Bri," she said, not taking her eyes off Bunny's. "She's not long for this world. We know that, but once I figured this out, I just couldn't let her last moments be unhappy ones. It broke my heart to think of it. The Blue Matter is going critical. Mr. Walter was right; the human body can't handle it. It did heal her wounds completely but whatever made up this woman's soul is gone."

"You..." Bunny panted. "You knew?" Paige nodded and Bunny closed her eyes. "Aw, you're the b-b-best, Paige. I wish... there was somethin'... I don't... I don't wanna die." Bunny squeezed Paige's hand. Brianna put her hand to her mouth and all three women were in tears. As the hearse came to a stop, a loud lub-dub sound emanated from Bunny's chest coinciding with a pulse of blue light. The Walter Girls looked at each other.

"You don't suppose...?" Brianna asked.

Paige bit her lip, leapt up and kicked the hearse doors open. "Quickly!" she shouted and they carried Bunny to the back entrance to the elevator and down to the lab.

To be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

**Call Me Bunny**

Steam Powered Giraffe Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Three

The atmosphere in lab AA was tense as The Spine and Hatchworth watched Peter Walter VI examine Rabbit. The young man sighed, pushed a pair of headphones down around his neck and unplugged the tool he was listening through from Rabbit's chest. The other devices around him whirred, buzzed and pulsed, but the bot's frame was leaden.

"Rabbit was built in 1896," Walter stated and picked up a worn, leather-bound journal. Flipping through the pages he skimmed the content written in a fine, nineteenth century hand. "He's always been a little off—always had malfunctions and glitches." He closed the book with a firm gesture. "Perhaps it's time."

Hatchworth took a staggering step backwards. The Spine stepped forward and grimaced. "Time for what?"

Peter Walter's face was dark. "Time to let him go."

"No!" both bots shouted. "No, please, sir," The Spine corrected. "Don't. He's our friend. Surely something can be done?" He gestured to the bank of devices steadily making noise.

Walter shook his head. "Spine, these are just diagnostics, you know that. They're _watching_, not _doing_. And they've not detected a thing in three days. There's nothing left," he said and started pulling the wires and powering down the testing machines.

"No..." Hatchworth muttered over and over and started walking in a tight circle. "This isn't happening."

"Guys, it's happened. I'm sorry. I'll look into waking another bot for SPG soon."

"We don't want another robot!" The Spine shouted indignantly. "We want Rabbit! Can't you just pour more Blue Matter in and..."

"No, _I can't_!" Walter shouted. Both robots grew still and stared at him. "Do you think this is a decision I've come to lightly? I've not slept for three days!" He saw the shocked, hurt looks on their faces, ran a hand over his head, and calmed down. "It's not that easy. Blue Matter is... It's more than just fuel. It's special, and after one hundred years or more it doesn't just propel you, it _is_ you." He touched Rabbit's chest just over his repaired but vacant power core. "When it's gone, it's gone."

"Gone to robot heaven," Hatchworth said at a whisper. The Spine folded his arms around himself and shook his head.

Walter was about to argue with them that there was no such place when the double doors to the lab burst open in an explosive clatter and the two Walter Girls and their charge practically fell in.

"Paige! Brianna! What on Earth is going on?" Walter shouted and ran to assist them.

"Sir!" Brianna pleaded with him. "We need to get her to Rabbit, quickly!" Bunny groaned as another loud heartbeat sounded. The blue glow was much brighter this time. "The Blue Matter's going critical!"

"Spine! Hatch! Get out of the way!" Peter Walter shouted and effortlessly lifted the now semi-conscious Bunny into his arms. The robots stepped back. He rushed to Rabbit's suspended body and looked around, confused. "I'm not sure what we should do, er..." He put her feet on the ground and draped her arm over his shoulder. One of her arms brushed Rabbit's body and an arc of blue energy snapped between the two. "Ah! That'll do. Girls, help me, we're going to sort of..." They rushed over and together laced Bunny's arms around Rabbit's neck. "That's it. Now, you two are the only ones who can handle her. Make sure she doesn't slip off."

Brianna raised a brow. "Are you sure this is enough?" she asked over her shoulder, holding the woman's right arm in place.

"Hope so. Better that nothing!" Walter said with a lopsided smile.

Paige held Bunny's waist with her right arm and held her left hand in hers. Her heart beat irregularly and she drew heaving breaths. "Paige, looks like this is it," she gasped and squeezed her hand. "Guys..." Bunny whispered. "I'm sorry I c-c-caused such a fuss," she panted. "Spine? Next time I say… I don't need maintenance… smack me, ok?" She smiled.

The two bots gawked at the brunette. "Rabbit...?" The Spine asked, his voice cracking. Paige buried her face in Bunny's hair and hugged her tightly.

Another heartbeat sounded. "Let go!" Walter shouted and his girls let her go and jumped back. Bunny winced. The blue glow was replaced with a huge arc of blue energy that cracked like lightning, blowing the lab lights out. Bunny screamed as light shot out of her body, breaking it apart like a jigsaw puzzle.

"My stars..." Walter gasped and squinted to see. Brianna hugged Paige as she screamed in agony. The light suddenly seemed to flow backwards toward where the woman's heart had been and became a single, intense point of light. Then everything went dark.

The Walter Girls sank to the floor and sobbed and the humans were left in the pitch darkness. Only the robots could see anything and they stared, hard. "Come on," Hatchworth breathed. "Come back."

A soft, humming sound was their first indication. Then, a warm, green glow as the metal man on the wall lifted his head and opened his eyes. The lab lights kicked back on and everyone held their breath.

Mr. Walter approached his great-grandfather's automaton. "Rabbit?" he asked.

"Hiya, pops," Rabbit's voice squeaked. "I guess I'm grounded, huh?"

The room exploded with cries of joy.

.x.

**Epilogue**

Three days later, the Walter Girls finally finished the report on "the First National Bank Incident" as it was officially called. Peter Walter V had interrogated the two assistants on every detail of what happened. He neglected to do this individually, however, so their stories were straight. They reported that the suicide-woman had woken and been uncooperative and silent. Three days later the Blue Matter suddenly went critical. He was unhappy that they had not kept good vital records on the last of the three days, but they begged ignorance; their expertise was in mechanics, not medicine.

The case was closed and Paige breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that Peter Walter VI hadn't realized she took "Bunny" off the manor grounds and Rabbit hadn't spilled the beans, either. It was over, but something still haunted her conscious. Paige gave up trying to sleep around three o'clock, put on her robe and slippers and descended from her fifth-floor room to the second floor.

It was not a place she liked to go. Usually, when the elevator doors opened it was like stepping out into a warzone of crazy antics, music blaring and hundred-year-old metal men behaving like small children. Tonight, time was on her side. At three, the hall was silent. She passed four doors. Two were unmarked and padlocked, one was marked with a galvanized metal sign that read "The Spine" and another had an intricately riveted sign made up of cleverly layered gears and spare watch parts that made up the name "Hatchworth". The last door was more worn than the others and did not have proper writing on it. Currently, there was only a stylized drawing of a rabbit wearing goggles tacked to the wood with brass upholstery tacks.

Paige stopped in front of Rabbit's door and took a deep breath. She held her fist up to knock but hesitated, made a face and lowered the hand. She shifted her weight and folded her arms around herself. Her hair was braided for the night and she stopped hugging herself and played with the end of the braid nervously. She shook her head, raised the fist again, then lowered it again. The Walter Girl let out another, heavier sigh and was raising the fist a third time when the door swung open fast enough to flutter her robe in its wake. She shouted in alarm and put a hand to her chest and Rabbit mirrored her sound and motion.

"You scared me to death!" Paige cried. "How long have you been standing there?"  
"How long have _you _been standing there?" Rabbit shot back. He was dressed down without his trademark hat or vest.

She frowned, but knew he had a point. "Sorry," she said, glancing down from his green eyes that stared unblinking into hers. "Can I come in?"

That made him blink. Rabbit stepped back and made a sweeping gesture with this hand, allowing her to pass.

His room was about fourteen by fourteen feet square and had two windows on only the far wall. These were covered by dusty red velvet drapes. A single table lamp shone behind him, giving the room a cavernous look. A tattered, green velvet-covered Victorian settee sat on the left side and as it was the only thing not covered with toys or instruments (or clothes or other unidentifiable objects as was practically everything else in the room) Paige decided to sit on that. The springs were shot and she sank down into the cushions but did her best not to look flustered. Rabbit sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Not so well, no."

"Yeah." He nodded as if he could have similar problems.

Paige fidgeted and played with the end of her braid. "Rabbit, I wanted to talk to you about..."

"I know," he said, quietly. "You can. It's ok." The soft, sympathetic look on his face made her shiver involuntarily.

"Ok. Good," she said, straightening and folding her hands in her lap. "The Walters didn't know it was you. They..." she started. "Originally, when Brianna first brought you in, the Fifth looked you over."

"The _Fifth_ did?" Rabbit repeated, sitting up at attention.

"Yes. He worked on you for about a half an hour." Something in the way his eyes stared at her made her stomach flip-flop so she trained them on her hands, took a deep breath and went for it. "While Brianna tended to the woman, I was with the Fifth. He tried like hell to get you started again, but soon realized that the Blue Matter was gone. When Brianna reported that it was most likely all absorbed by the woman's body as she died, he stopped trying. He assigned the Sixth to make certain that your automaton had no vitals for three days. We were assigned to watch the woman and alert them when she went critical. We were supposed to keep her sedated, but..." Paige looked up and stifled a gasp as she saw that Rabbit was still smiling sweetly and compassionately at her. "I just couldn't. As soon as I figured out that you were in there I couldn't keep you locked up until... I just wanted to give you a little happiness before..." Tears came to her eyes.

"Aw, Paige, it's ok. I'm fine, see?" Rabbit exclaimed, popping up to his feet in one flowing, effortless movement. Once standing his body cracked and hissed, bending at the waist. "Well, as ok as I ever am..." he grumbled, straightening back up.

"I know," the Walter Girl said, quickly wiping her eyes. "But you had a heart attack and I knew it was going to happen and I didn't tell you and you were so scared and then you screamed and the Blue Matter destroyed you and..." she cried, her voice becoming more high pitched as the tears spilled down.

Rabbit took two steps toward her and went down on his knees. He caught her hands up in his metal ones and held them. "Paige, Paige! You're leakin' all over the place. D-d-d-don't cry! Aw, come on, now, don't! I know why you did what you did and I'm thankful, I tell ya!" He cocked his head to the side, the tails of the bandana that covered his skull swished to the left with the movement. "I got to be human for a day. I got to feel grass under my feet and sun on my skin. I got to eat yummy food and _taste it_, too! I know what ice cream _actually tastes like_! I got to breathe and get winded. I had a sugar high! And, yes, I got to feel pain, and fear and sadness, but I also felt joy and happiness." He gently lifted her chin with his curved right index finger. "Paige, I got to do the whole thing—the whole human thing. It was wonderful."

Paige sniffled. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"I am _not_," Rabbit said, testily, lowering his hand and rocking back up to his feet. "I don't lie. I don't think I know how to lie. Not about th-th-things like that, anyhow." His frown softened. "Really, Paige. Thank you. You did _good_."

The Walter Girl pursed her lips and sniffled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her robe. "Thanks, Rabbit." He helped her get out of the dilapidated settee and to her feet. For a tense moment, they stood facing each other. Paige's eyes were on their feet—her own blue slippers and his shiny leather boots.

"If you want," Rabbit said. "You can still call me Bunny."

She looked up and smiled back at him. "Ok."

The automaton showed her to the door, stepping over piles of clothes and kicking a small keyboard out of the way as he went. "Goodnight, Paige. Sleep well, now," he said, bowing to her.

"You, too." Paige nodded and grinned. Goodnight, Bunny."

END


End file.
